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November 29, 2010

World AIDS day, history and purpose by Ryan Jewels

Every year on December first we take the time to remember the ones we lost to the AIDS epidemic. In order to know about the history of world AIDS day we must first know AIDS as the disease. AIDS is a syndrome that attacks a person’s immune system or an immunodeficiency syndrome. The first recorded cases of HIV and AIDS were in the 70s and 80s. AIDS starts out as HIV and eventually progresses. It can be transmitted in a few different ways, such as unprotected sex, intro venous drug use, mother to child in birth or breast feeding and rarely through blood transfusions. Since the first recorded cases it has killed more than 25million people worldwide and an estimated 33.2 million people live with HIV and AIDS today. The first world AIDS day was organized in 1988 originally by U.N AIDS. U.N AIDS is the joint united nation program on HIV and AIDS. A major symbol of world AIDS day and HIV/AIDS awareness is the red ribbon. Each year a new theme is chosen for world AIDS day. The first theme in 1988 was communication. Communication can mean anything, like talking to a friend, family member or your partner about the disease or even your or their HIV status. The mission of world aids day is to lead and support an expanding response to HIV and AIDS. This includes prevention and treatment. In 2005 UN AIDS gave the responsibility of world AIDS day to the world AIDS coalition. This year’s theme is universal access and human rights. This basically means you have the right to be healthy. A huge issue in the country is health care. This problem affects everyone especially HIV positive people. If people can’t get there medication then how are they supposed to treat their illness? Another goal of World AIDS day is to help remove misinformation surrounding HIV/AIDS and a big stigma is that all gay men have AIDS, which is not true. This stigma first came to be when AIDS was first seen and an abundance of infected people were gay men. However the growing rate of infection is being seen in straight woman of color. The biggest goal of world AIDS day is education. If more people were educated on AIDS and how it is contracted, there would be a lot less people infected. One of the best ways to protect your self is to educate yourself.

November 16, 2010

14 year old gay youth speaks up to his school board

Over the past few months there has been an overwhelming amount of media coverage on various LGBT issues including the ongoing political struggles, gay youth suicide and anti-gay bullying in schools. It is so important for the LGBT community to be heard nationwide to further our efforts with decreasing hate crimes and bullying, and also to help with our political equality. Last Monday fourteen-year-old Graeme Taylor spoke articulately to school board members of Howell Michigan defending his teacher, Jay McDowell, after he stood up for gay youth by ejecting 2 students from class after they made anti-gay remarks. The teacher was suspended for that day without pay for his actions. You can see the video here.

November 2, 2010

Political issues and how they affect our youth

LGBT equality is a political topic that has gotten a lot of attention in the media lately. The marriage equality debate continues in California. Another issue that is catching headlines is the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the US military. GENDA (the Gender Expression Non-discrimination Act) is a bill that would prohibit discrimination in the New York State based on gender identity and expression. Another example is DASA (The Dignity for All Students Act), which has finally passed after about ten years of trying. How do these political issues affect young people? Many of our participants here at Pride for Youth have expressed strong feelings about these issues. Some have taken active measures to have their voices heard. They make trips up to Albany to talk with their legislators, take part in rallies and petitions, send letters, make phone calls and of course spread the word to their peers about what’s going on and what they can do to help. Others are fearful to voice their opinions due to being outed and having their families or peers find out. When it comes to the issue of marriage equality, many young people are outraged that it is not legal for them to get married. You might ask why this affects them when they are not even old enough to get married. The answer is simple: they do not feel equal, or they feel “less than”. We are raised in a society where marriage and gender roles are taught to us so rigidly defined from infancy on, even in the most open minded of households. When a child grows to adolescence and realizes their sexual orientation or gender identity doesn’t meet the rigid formula our community has made for them there are many psychological problems that arise. When they find out that it is illegal for them to marry, the message that there is something wrong with them is starkly reinforced. The repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was recently voted down by Congress. Think about the young person that may want to join the military. Maybe this teenager is “out of the closet”. This youth faces the decision to either not join the military or to crawl back into the closet just to have the opportunity to be a part of serving our country. This kind of decision can be detrimental to a young person’s mental well being. Now how about the youth that’s still closeted. He or she could feel as though they need to hide themselves even further just to serve their country. The debate over LGBT’s being accepted in society has other types of impact for youth as well. Think about the dinner conversations that happen in not so accepting households. These issues come up in conversation. When parents and/or siblings at that dinner table voice their anti-LGBT opinions, how does that LGBT teen at the table—closeted or not—feel? When LGBT rights are debated in school—should LGBT’s be allowed to marry, adopt children, be protected by non-discrimination laws?—what impact does that have on students who are trying to build a sense of pride in who they are? A phenomenon that happens with any sort of minority political progress is backlash. People who feel threatened by LGBT’s become louder, angrier and sometimes violent. This can make young people feel scared and powerless. But it is important that we teach them that it doesn’t have to be this way. Civic/political participation is a key strategy for youth empowerment. At the most basic level, it can take the form of registering to vote. Youth can also get involved in LGBT political organizations and/or campaigns to elect politicians who will advance LGBT equality. For those who are not ready to take those steps, they may need a safe place where they can talk about how political issues are affecting them—a hotline, a youth center or a counselor’s office. When it comes to the fight for LGBT equality, young people can be an incredible resource, and we should also remember that they need our support to cope with the disappointment, alienation and fear stirred up by high profile political fights.